Airbnb Offers a Discount for Top-Rated Guests… Is It Really a Good Deal?

Over the past few days, several hosts have noticed a new feature appearing on their Airbnb dashboard: offering a 15% (or 20% depending on the country) discount to top-rated guests in order to gain better visibility in search results.

Presented as an opportunity to attract more bookings, this offer deserves to be analyzed with a bit of perspective. Behind what looks like a simple marketing tool lies a much more important question: who actually funds this promotion, and is it truly profitable?

A Discount 100% Funded by the Host

The concept is straightforward.

Guests with an average rating of 4.8/5 or higher can benefit from a discount if you enable this option.

In exchange, Airbnb promises you increased visibility for a given period.

At first glance, it seems like a fair trade.

In reality, Airbnb pays absolutely nothing.

The entire cost of the discount is borne by the host.

To make matters worse, Airbnb continues to collect its service fee on the discounted price. In France, for hosts subject to VAT, the actual cost of this commission is 18.6% (15.5% platform fee + 20% VAT on that fee).

In other words, you provide the discount, and Airbnb still gets paid.

What This Actually Costs You

Let's look at a very simple example.

Your property is listed at €100 per night.

Without Discount

• Price paid by the guest: €100
• Airbnb service fee (18.6%): €18.60
• Net payout to the host: €81.40

With a 15% Discount

• Price paid by the guest: €85
• Airbnb service fee (18.6%): €15.81
• Net payout to the host: €69.19

Ultimately, your net income drops from €81.40 to €69.19, resulting in a loss of €12.21 on a single night.

Put another way, for a listing displayed at €100, the combined cost of the discount given to the guest (€15) and Airbnb's fees (€15.81) reaches €30.81.

In practice, this means that nearly a third of your displayed rate (30.81%) no longer goes to you.

This is the real figure you need to consider before enabling this promotion—not just the 15% discount advertised by Airbnb.

Airbnb Promises More Visibility... But Where Is the Proof?

This is probably the most critical point.

Airbnb claims your listing will receive higher placement in search results.

The issue is simple: the platform publishes no data proving the actual effectiveness of this promise.

No numbers.

No studies.

No metrics allowing hosts to measure the actual gain in visibility or booking increases.

In reality, no one knows whether any boost in bookings comes from the program itself or simply because your listing became cheaper.

It is only logical that a cheaper listing converts more visitors.

Therefore, any potential rise in bookings might be driven entirely by the price drop... rather than an algorithmic advantage granted by Airbnb.

To date, Airbnb has provided no evidence to prove otherwise.

Only One Way to Find Out: Test It

Given the lack of published data from Airbnb, the only reasonable approach is to run your own test.

For instance, activate this promotion only during periods when your calendar is traditionally harder to fill:

• During low season;
• For mid-week gaps;
• Or when launching a brand-new listing.

For a month or two, compare key metrics:

• Your occupancy rate;
• Your net income;
• The number of bookings received;
• Your total revenue;
• And, if possible, your search ranking position.

If your bookings increase but your total revenue decreases, it simply means you bought more bookings... without earning more money.

Conversely, if you see a genuine increase in net revenue, then this strategy may hold value for you.

The key is to base your decisions on your own data, not on a marketing claim.

Watch Out for Stacking Discounts

Another frequently overlooked factor is how Airbnb handles multiple promotions.

The platform can stack different discounts:

• Discount for top-rated guests;
• Custom promotions;
• "Non-refundable" rate discounts;
• Last-minute discounts;
• Long-term stay discounts.

In certain scenarios, these offers combine, resulting in a final price significantly lower than what the host intended.

Before enabling this new feature, take the time to inspect the price breakdown across several dates to ensure no additional discounts are unintentionally applied.

Are 4.8-Rated Guests Really Exceptional?

The program relies on a simple premise: top-rated guests are the best customers.

In theory, that sounds reasonable.

In practice, it is much less obvious.

Just like listing ratings, guest ratings are heavily clustered between 4.8 and 5 stars.

Hosts are often hesitant to leave negative feedback, leading to widespread rating inflation.

As a result, a guest with a 4.8 rating isn't necessarily exceptional; they simply belong to a massive majority of guests who behave normally.

Is that alone a good reason to automatically grant a 15% discount?

That is up to each host to decide.

When Can This Offer Actually Make Sense?

Despite the drawbacks, there are specific situations where this promotion can be useful.

For example:

• When your calendar is almost completely empty;
• During the off-peak season;
• To fill awkward single-night gaps;
• To quickly gain initial reviews for a new listing.

In these instances, you trade part of your margin for higher occupancy.

This can be a strategic choice.

However, if your property already fills up naturally at standard rates, this offer mostly amounts to discounting bookings you likely would have received anyway.

A Significant Shift in Strategy

This new feature highlights a broader shift in Airbnb's business strategy.

For a long time, the platform claimed it didn't want to adopt a system similar to Booking.com's Genius program.

Today, it is testing the exact same model: hosts fund discounts in exchange for promised visibility.

If this trend continues, search rankings will increasingly depend on how much margin a host is willing to sacrifice to appear higher in search results.

We are gradually moving from a model where listing quality drove success to one where visibility may depend on how much profit you give up.

Conclusion

Should you adopt this new offer?

The answer is simple: test it, but don't blindly trust Airbnb's promises.

To date, Airbnb has published no study demonstrating that this discount provides a real visibility advantage independent of a simple price reduction.

It is therefore impossible to confirm whether this program will truly generate additional net revenue.

The only way to know is to run your own limited-time test and carefully measure the financial outcome.

Finally, this update serves as a reminder of a truth more hosts are coming to realize: the best booking is always the one that doesn't depend on an algorithm.

Every guest who books directly through your own website, returns for another stay, or recommends you to friends is a client for whom you pay no required discounts, no extra platform commissions, and no visibility fees.

In the long run, building direct bookings remains the most effective strategy to preserve your profitability and independence from third-party platforms.